The year 2004 was marked by tense relations between the United Nations and the United States, the world body’s largest financial contributor. Much of the discontent on both sides centred on the situation in Iraq and the lack of security there. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s refusal to send more UN staff members into such an insecure environment greatly frustrated the administration of U.S. Pres. George W. Bush. The security situation had deteriorated substantially since the bombing in August 2003 of the UN compound in Baghdad that killed 22 UN staff members, and November 2004 was one of the deadliest months since the U.S. invasion began, in terms of both coalition forces and civilian casualties.

Tempers flared in November when Annan sent a letter to Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi (seeBiographies) warning that the planned military assault against insurgents in Fallujah might jeopardize the credibility of the upcoming January 2005 elections. This incident followed on the heels of an earlier one in which Annan, in an interview with the BBC in September, had irritated U.S. and British officials by suggesting that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had contravened the UN Charter.

As the year closed, disagreement centred on the deployment of UN personnel to assist in the preparations for the planned January 2005 elections. While pledging the UN’s full support for the governance process in Iraq, Annan remained firm that for such support to be feasible, UN personnel had to be secure from violence. The situation that existed through late 2004 simply did not meet that condition.

Iraq

The year commenced on a high note following the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. As 2004 wore on, however, it became clear that allegations regarding stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction simply were not to be substantiated, nor, for that matter, were claims of the U.S. and British governments that the Saddam regime had supported al-Qaeda. It was evident that it would be extremely difficult for the occupying U.S.-led coalition force to restore security and governance to the country. In April President Bush and Prime Minister Blair endorsed a proposal for the UN effort to establish an Iraqi interim government. The new regime took office on June 28.

Human security in Iraq had declined dramatically since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Malnutrition among children had nearly doubled, and the situation was worsened by poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, lack of electrical power, and armed violence. In the fall of 2004, about one-quarter of the Iraqi population still relied on food rations, and about 40% of the members of this group were forced to sell at least part of their rations for other necessities. Despite the extremely dangerous conditions, UN relief agencies, such as UNICEF, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the International Migration Organization (IMO), continued to play an important role in providing humanitarian assistance. Faced with increased violence and declining security, the United States announced on December 1 that it would increase the size of its military force to 150,000 troops by the end of the year.

Afghanistan

On October 9 presidential elections were held for the first time in Afghanistan. They had been postponed from the originally scheduled date in June. Amid allegations of voting irregularities, Afghani interim president Hamid Karzai was declared the victor, and he was officially inaugurated in December. Parliamentary elections were scheduled for April 2005. The security situation in the country continued to be somewhat precarious, with the persistence of problems related to drug trafficking, the demobilization of militias, and the traditional divisions among warlords. Secretary-General Annan urged the Security Council and the General Assembly to address these and other sources of insecurity and to consider an increase in the UN’s presence and assistance.

Iran

Much of the year was characterized by contention between the Iranian government and the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and U.S. officials over the issue of uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities in Iran. In November an agreement concerning these issues was reached between European countries and the Iranian government; Iranian officials announced that they had halted all uranium-enrichment measures and would permit inspectors to verify compliance with IAEA safeguards. The IAEA, in turn, reported that it had accounted for all the declared nuclear material in Iran.

Development

The heads of state and government at the Millennium Summit in 2000 had set forth a declaration that contained eight primary goals, called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for eradicating extreme poverty and the conditions associated with it by 2015. As the year 2004 came to a close, the international community was not on target for attaining any of the goals. The situation in the less-developed countries was particularly bad—half of the world’s population continued to subsist on incomes of less than $2 a day. How to get and keep the MDGs process on track was to be the main focus of a special summit meeting scheduled to be held at the convening of the 60th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2005.

On a more positive note, the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects 2005 report indicated that it was both the best of times and the worst of times for less-developed countries, depending on where they were located within the world economy. The overall economic growth rate for less-developed countries, led by spectacular increases in China and India, was 6.1%. At the same time, however, most of sub-Saharan Africa lagged far behind.

Health

HIV/AIDS remained at the top of the health agenda of the international community. The pandemic was widely recognized as much more than a global health crisis. It posed a tremendous threat to social, economic, and political stability and thus had become a top global security issue.

The UN systemwide response was led by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a collaborative program that brought together 10 UN cosponsoring agencies. The primary role of UNAIDS had been that of advocate, technical adviser, coordinator, and catalyst. Its 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic gave a sobering account of the ever-increasing toll of AIDS. (SeeHealth and Disease.) In January the Kaiser Family Foundation joined UNAIDS in launching a new Global Media AIDS Initiative. The aim was to engage the media more fully in the fight against HIV/AIDS by focusing on increasing education and public awareness of the disease. The theme for the 2004 World AIDS Campaign was “Women, Girls, HIV, and AIDS.” UNAIDS also initiated the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS.

To complement UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) had been established in 2002 to mobilize, generate, and disperse additional funds to fight the pandemic. In 2004 GFATM approved $1.6 billion for two years and a total of $5 billion for more than five years. These sums paled in comparison with the projected cost of mounting an effective and successful campaign. UNAIDS, for example, estimated that $7 billion–$10 billion would be required annually for fighting AIDS in low- and middle-income countries.

Refugees

As of Jan. 1, 2004, there were about 17.1 million “persons of concern” who fell under the mandate of UNHCR, as compared with 20.6 million the previous year. Well over half of these persons were officially classified as refugees. The vast majority of them were located in Asia, Africa, and Europe, and Asia accounted for the largest number.

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